Dubai: New Year’s was doubly sweet and special for some UAE residents who welcomed 2017 with a new bundle of joy in their arms.
Four babies were born after the stroke of midnight across three Thumbay hospitals — Sharjah, Dubai, and Fujairah. While the hospital welcomed three boys, one each of Syrian, Indian and Pakistani nationality, a baby girl was born to Indian parents.
The first baby to arrive in the hospital was a boy, weighing 3.75kg, born to a Pakistani couple at 1.45am. Both the mother and baby are doing well.
Speaking about the joy of welcoming their second child on the first day of the year, 32-year-old father Shahnam Ali, a marketing professional, said, “I am really pleased that our second son was born on the first day of the year. The elder one is really besotted with the arrival of his little brother, and keeps saying that he now has a friend to play cricket with. He just loves him.”
In Aster Hospital, Dubai, four babies were born since December 31, and the mothers and the babies are reported to be doing well.
Wrapped in a baby pink blanket was Indian baby Anaya Ranjith, who was the first baby born at the hospital weighing 3.43 kilos to parents Ranjith Adate and Rakhy Ranjith.
“It’s our first baby and our happiness cannot be explained in words,” said the father, a medical engineer. “Initially we were expecting the delivery date to be January 10, but it happened to be on January 1. Anaya is such an amazing gift for us.”
He said the New Year’s Eve celebration to them was seeing their baby’s eyes open for the first time.
Meanwhile in Abu Dhabi, a minute after midnight, as fireworks brightened skies in the capital, baby Athaba lit up her parents’ lives with her arrival.
The Emirati girl, born 3.3 kilograms at birth, was one of the first babies to arrive in the capital in 2017.
“It is a great beginning to the year with this exceptional gift,” said Saeed Al Mansouri, her delighted father who has two other girls and two boys. His wife had delivered the couple’s fifth child at Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi, and both mother and baby were doing well after the delivery.
In about two more hours, Baby Sabha was born to her proud parents at Corniche Hospital, the capital’s first specialist maternity facility. She weighed about 3 kilograms at birth.
“All I can say is that it is a great feeling. All praise to Allah, who has blessed us with our darling daughter,” Faisal Al Mahmoodi, another UAE Army serviceman, told Gulf News.
Al Mahmoudi and his wife are parents to five other children, including four girls and a boy. The proud father said he could not wait to take the new arrival home to the rest of his family.
Greeting a new life is one of the most auspicious ways to start a new year, the couples added.
